Zagreb International Festival of Wine and Culinary Arts, also known as Zagreb Vinocom, has been taking place in Zagreb’s most famous and prestigious hotel, Esplanade, since 2006. Taking place at one of the most prestigious venues, it occupies all the halls and the entire terrace (in a tent!) of almost-hundred-years-old hotel with the exhibitions, workshops, culinary presentations, tasting and opportunities for informal networking.
The festival is organized by Igor Dropuljić and his team, usually in the last week of November, which makes it a perfect place to discuss the gift-giving in the season of giving and drinking a lot of wine, December. Also, for the tourist and hospitality business-oriented people, it’s high time to start making plans for the upcoming season, and Vinocom is the place where you’ll probably be able to talk to just about anyone you plan to do business with. In the last few years the festival has had over 300 exhibitors a year and around 10000 visitors that pay not quite cheap entrance to taste the wines and enjoy the food.
The workshops are a strong suite of the festival. They are equally dedicated to wine and food (with some that belong to other categories: for instance, last year it hosted a workshop dedicated to Serbian šljivovica!) and are tailored to educate caterers, journalists, business people, sommeliers and also the broader public. So, in the workshops you will get the chance to have some of the meals made by the best Croatian chefs, and pair that with the best of wines, sometimes the vertical tasting of vintages of best wines are held, last year a beer workshop was a hit.
If you like good food and good wines, and don’t mind a bit of a crowd (it tends to get crowded during the two days of the festival, as the number of exhibitors and visitors grows each year and has probably reached the saturation point) and actually enjoy mingling with people that make and sell the best wines and other local products (fruit, pršut and other cured meat treasures, cheeses, olive (and pumpkin seed!) oil, sweets), book the date in late November to visit VinoCom in hotel Esplanade in Zagreb.
This year’s festival will take place on November 25 and 26. Visit the official website for more information.
